RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS

Threat of international tension over Jehovah's
Witnesses
case

If the Russian response to the missile attack
of the USA in
Syria becomes a military-political game on steroids, then the
subterfuge of the
new confrontation inevitably will touch the topic of so-called
"spiritual
security" that is sensitive for our country. Passions have been
inflamed
over the lawsuit of the Russian Ministry of Justice for the
liquidation of the
Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses. In response, the
movement rolled
out a worldwide campaign #stopjwban, an appeal to put pressure on
Russia so
that the authorities would abandon their claim on the religious
organization,
known for their active evangelism.

Year after year the Jehovah's Witnesses
consistently wind up
in reports of the USA State Department about recognition of
freedom of
conscience in various countries. Sometimes these charges bypass
the ears, but
in moments of international tension they are recalled. Our average
persons
consider Jehovists an "alien sect," in opposition to the
traditional—Orthodox—Christianity.
But the representatives of the movement themselves stress that the
attacks are
directly against a movement that spreads biblical teaching. The
recent seizure
of a batch of Bibles, which "did not correspond" with the synodal
edition, was bad for Russia's reputation. Almost all protestant
denominations
in Russia came to the defense of Sacred Scripture in the JW
translation.

In the USA, with its tradition of free
diversity of
religious currents, any action against people who declare
themselves to be
preachers of evangelical teaching is taken as "persecution of
Christians." Donald Trump, who is now turning Reagan-style
emotions into
grand policy, may use the conflicts in the religious sphere for
pressure on
Russia. The bad memory of the expression "evil empire" has
returned,
to the amazement of Russian Christians and in spite of the
rhetoric of the
religious renaissance.

It may be a dangerous trend to roll out the
reaction in the
area of ensuring "spiritual security," if it is now that other
religious currents, beside Jehovah's Witnesses, that have American
origins and
ecclesiastical centers in the West, fall under the blow of
justice.

In addition, there may be dangerous
consequences in the
propaganda campaign that is now developing around the fate of
various persons
suspected of committing recent terrorist acts in Russian cities.
Media
resources, several of which are located in Turkey, methodically
speak of
"persecution of Christians," while the main story is the dismissal
from work and refusal to board on an airplane of Andrei Nikitin,
who originally
was suspected of committing a terrorist act in the St. Petersburg
subway. The
Muslim topic may be used for justifying a break of allied
relations with
Turkey, which now hang by a thread. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 April
2017)

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